Two companies that put Rs 28 crore in Tehelka linked to Jindal firm named in coal scam FIR

Two firms that together invested Rs 28.35 crore in Tarun Tejpal's holding company have links to a Jindal group company that is named in a CBI FIR in the coal blocks allotment scandal. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

Two firms that together invested Rs 28.35 crore in Tarun Tejpal's holding company, Anant Media, which publishes Tehelka magazine, have links to a Jindal group company that is named in a CBI FIR in the coal blocks allotment scandal, an investigation by The Indian Express has found.

Records show that Enlightened Consultancy Services invested Rs 16.75 crore and Weldon Polymers Private Ltd Rs 11.60 crore in Anant Media. Both companies made the first two tranches of their investment on the same dates: June 20, 2008 and November 20, 2008. Both bought Rs-10 Anant Media shares at a premium of Rs 10,623. This effectively valued Anant Media at Rs 93.1 crore while its loss was Rs 21.06 crore.

An analysis of the share transactions (see box) involving Tehelka and these companies shows that between 2006 and 2010, through sale and purchase at regular intervals, Tehelka's management sold shares at a high premium, bought them back at nominal face value and then re-issued these same shares among these interlinked companies.

For instance, Enlightened bought shares at a premium of Rs 10,623 in 2008, sold them back to Tehelka in 2009 at Rs 10 a share and, within days, Tehelka issued these shares at a Rs 2,505-premium to Trinamool MP K D Singh's Royal Building and Infrastructure Ltd. In effect, Anant Media collected a premium of Rs 13,128 for a Rs 10 share.

WHAT IS WELDON?

In the Registrar of Company (RoC) records, Weldon, which holds a 5.87 per cent stake in Anant Media, has the same address as that of a firm named N D Exim Pvt Ltd. N D Exim was named by the CBI in its FIR in June 2013, which also named Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal, in connection with Rs 2.25 crore it

ALSO READ

TERMS OF USE: The views expressed in comments published on indianexpress.com are those of the comment writer's alone. They do not represent the views or opinions of The Indian Express Group or its staff. Comments are automatically posted live; however, indianexpress.com reserves the right to take it down at any time. We also reserve the right not to publish comments that are abusive, obscene, inflammatory, derogatory or defamatory.